Various restraint devices or tie-down devices or assemblies for use with items such as cargo are known. For example, one known pertinent prior art is commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,706, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Such tie-down assemblies include a locking mode to prevent a spool of the assembly from being rotated in either a pay-out direction or a retracting direction and free-spooling mode. In addition, such a tie-down assembly may have an incremental or ratcheting mode of tightening.
Tie-down assemblies may remain fastened to a platform such as a platform on a trailer, boat or ferry, truck, a car carrier, or on an airplane cargo hold, for example, at all times. Tie-down assemblies may be used to secure various cargo items or boxes onto the platform, car carrier, cargo hold, etc. They may also be used in vehicles such as buses to secure or retain some item such as cargo, passengers, wheel chairs and the like. The tie-down assemblies or restraint devices may be mounted directly to a structure such as a post, a frame, a floor or a wall of for example a vehicle or building. It is desired to have such a restraint device to be mounted in a protected and/or recessed position as disclosed herein.